Don't Be Discouraged
I was really encouraged this week when I read through a brief section of a church history book of mine. I ran into a hymn written by a Christian brother in Brazil some years ago. I think you will be encouraged by it as well. It reminds me of the several times that Jesus encouraged His disciples to not lose heart. For example, in John 14:1 He said, "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me." Read the lyrics below slowly and check out the story behind it. Enjoy!
Don't be discouraged ever again.
Jesus Christ has already given you
Peace, love, and joy,
not a fantasy world.
Don't look back,
Jesus Christ has taken you from sin.
Just look ahead, nothing more.
Don't be discouraged from singing.
Through strength and grace all will pass.
And the victory He will give us.
And together we will win the crown.
"[The hymn's] author is Lindomar Moreira da Silva, at the time of writing an eighteen-year-old member of an evangelical Protestant church in Buriticupu, deep in the interior of northeast Brazil. This is a region with almost no economic opportunity and almost none of the comforts taken for granted in North America, Europe, and other developed parts of the world. When he wrote this song in the mid-1990s, the author was living with his mother and seven other children in a four-room house. Lindomar subsequently went to seminary, married another seminary graduate, and in 2011 was pastoring a church in the interior town of Dirceu Arcoverde, Piaui" (Mark Noll).